Growing Partnerships Even From a Distance

Transcript

Kris  0:00  

Welcome to another episode of the learning loop podcast where we talk all about education. I’m your host, Chris, and I’m thrilled to have with us today a very special guest, Megan, Megan is an assistant principal in Fulton County, Georgia, she is going to share some incredible insights with us about family engagement. In today’s show, we’ll be digging into important questions that will help you to deepen your family partnerships from day one of school, you won’t want to miss this valuable discussion about bringing families into the learning loop. So settle in. And let’s get started. Megan, welcome to the show.

Megan  0:33  

All right. Thank you for having me. Very excited to be here!

Kris  0:37  

I want to start with a pretty easy question. How does family involvement in your children and your children’s education? How does that impact student achievement and success?

Megan  0:50  

Great question. I mean, that’s a big question. I think that the thing to remember is that really, education should be a way to involve all stakeholders, it’s not really just about the teacher with the student, or even just the parent with the administrator, it’s really it’s everybody digging in together, to make that community really effective. And to get the student the really a picture of the whole child, right, because we want to know everything we can about the child’s learning about their well being and just their successes. And the only way to do that is to hear from each individual stakeholder and building those connections can be really tricky.

Kris  1:28  

Absolutely. I think what we’ve learned coming out of the pandemic and other things is that there’s much more to an education for a child than just academics. There’s so many things around social emotional growth, and just development around friendships. And I appreciate that you guys are being mindful of that, as you’re thinking about what does success look like as far as our connections with our families? How do you help your families feel connected in your school events and provide opportunities for them to participate? Even though you’re in a virtual environment? What are some ways that you found to be successful?

Megan  2:02  

Yeah, definitely. So you know, I think that that’s the fun part is the virtual environment, you know, kind of taking down those those digital walls, if you will, and finding ways to bring us together. And one thing that we started doing over at our school where we’re year two, we’re starting year three now of just opening our brand new school. And so every year, we’re learning something new last year was probably the most valuable year of learning and building community. That was our big focus was how do we build community and bringing in opportunities for meeting face to face so we have things where we still meet virtually we have our online townhall meetings, where we can have a casual way of meeting with parents. So instead of having a, you know, a strict online presentation ready for parents, it’s more of that casual, ask some questions, get some answers, you know, give the parent the floor to share things and ask questions and dig deeper. But we also decided to involve in person community events, so we’re very large district, I’m sure if anyone has known anything about Fulton County, it’s, it’s, it’s pretty huge. So it spans over like 70 plus miles. And so bringing us together, we have to be very creative about where we meet, how we meet, and the purpose and the intention of the meeting. So we’re not just having meetings for meetings, we found the way to get buy in, of course, and to get people to come out is really to have those opportunities where it’s a little more fun, you know, it’s about relationship building, it’s about having the opportunity to, to sit one on one with the parent to give the little ones a hug, you know, an actual physical hug, right, we haven’t been able to do things like that in your virtual environment, you can do your air high fives, it’s not quite the same. And so getting the opportunity to do the fun things, you know, we make our own spirit where we have a screen printing station where they get to get hands on build their own spirit where we are right there in the mix with him we’re building we’re laughing we’re cutting up or we’re building that connection so that later whenever there are difficult conversations, we’re kind of overcoming that because we were real people now we’re not just you know, a name and an email, we’re real people. So that has been one big key strategy is to you know, to make sure that when you do have your events and your meetings that they’re intentional and that it is two way again I think that’s my biggest thing you’re going to hear me talk about today is a two way conversation instead of one way instead of just giving an email or sending a graphic it is more of that opportunity to open the floor so that you have your stakeholders be able to you know build the connections ask the questions they need to ask get the answers they need to get

Kris  4:39  

My favorite thing you said there was intentionality you know, we can always say we’re gonna go do this connection we’re gonna do this fun, you know, next new thing, but if you don’t have a purpose and intentionality around building that connection on the back end, then you know, you’re you might be missing an opportunity there to actually you know, create it and deepen that connection is Well, so I just love how you’re being purposeful about that and making sure that the steps you’re taking are all leading to the right path you want to carve forward. Speaking of kind of leading this path, we’re thinking about back to school. And this is on top of mind to a lot of different people of, you know, what do we want to make sure we do? And how do we really start our year? Right? What are things that you do at the start of your year to just get to know your families get to know your students get to know their home lives, their culture? And how do you start to really bridge that gap and start to collaborate with those parents from the start of your school year?

Megan  5:36  

Yeah, that’s, that’s a great question. So one of the things that we do, you know, it’s it’s traditional in a normal building, where you actually will bring, you know, parents into the school building, to have an opportunity to meet and connect with you. But we do that, too, we have an actual in person meeting. But one of the things that we’re adding to our little mix this year, again, something new, because we’re growing, renew, is having an opportunity to have kind of a parent workshop built in. So instead of just get your device, grab your materials, you know, say hi, pass through call today, we’re actually going to have kind of campus tutorials. So they’ll come in, and they’ll learn about specific tools that they’ll need to be accessing throughout the school year, you know how to be a good learning coach online, if the teacher is not there to sit in the room, or they’d like they would in a teacher’s desk where they would walk around the classroom and circulate and you’ve got that proximity, you know, the power of proximity, you don’t really have that in this online environment. So the parents are key players, they’re our learning coach, they’re their partners in education. And so we really want them to feel like they have the tools and the resources, they need to be a partner. And so having that one on one kind of workshop, not really a tutorial, you know, we don’t want to make them, we want to empower them to feel like there are definitely a part and they understand, if we ask them to go and use a specific spot or go to a certain, you know, place to access the content, they know where to go and how to do that. So I think that that is something new, we’re going to add, and I’m hoping that also, again, will take down a wall or a barrier for parents who might be a little nervous about technology, and feel comfortable in coming and asking us knowing that, again, we’re partners in this together. And I think that that hopefully this little welcome back partnership will be fruitful.

Kris  7:23  

Absolutely. I’m sure it will. There are parents, like you were saying, who might be apprehensive about what what does this mean, for me, when my child is here in the virtual school, and what kind of, you know, job do I have to play at home, in being there to open your doors and literally have them come in and get all those questions answered is, you know, not only going to kind of remove that anxiety, but also really allow you to coach them, and to really like power them to be those coaches at home and to really be that teacher, right next to those children, even though you let you can’t physically be there, they can still be there for you. And so I think that’s, that’s an awesome step to take, just to make sure that you your students have the most support possible. What are some of the biggest challenges that schools face when it comes to getting families engaged in how can these challenges be overcome? These can be challenges that you have felt and seen and experienced, or challenges that you’re starting to see around you? What kind of things are out there? And how can we start to overcome them?

Megan  8:28  

Sure, no, that’s a great, that’s a great one. And I can speak from different lenses, of course, because I too am a parent and in the same school system, and I and I can see, you know, just from my own peers, some of the common things, and I think the biggest is really getting families to feel engaged with the community enough to involve themselves, you know, and that comes from volunteer work, I feel like that’s the biggest thing. And that’s an area of great need, you know, we need a lot of parent involvement. And this is in virtual life, this is in face to face life. This is in Cub Scouts. This is in all of the places that you go, and getting people to feel that need or the call to duty, if you will, to volunteer maybe and to support in, you know, be an active member of that community. I see, you know, especially since COVID times there has been a little bit of a slow go to get back into the groove of what that’s like, you know, in our daily normal, because I think we got really comfortable and staying in our own space in our own lane and doing our things. So I think finding ways to get that community to be more engaged has been our biggest challenge to conquer. And I think one of the things that we’ve done really to do that is to, to overcome that is to scaffold a little bit of what does that volunteer work look like? So instead of giving an exhaustive list of things that will really overwhelm the person, I know even me as a parent, if I’m looking for someone needs help, and there’s this huge exhaustive list I might be a little I’m hesitant to want to go dig in on all of the things. So I think that really prioritizing what the need is, and then figuring out, you know, who are the different groups or parties inside of your school building that can really help you with that work. So for example, your PTA or PTO, they might be able to help you find some of the volunteers that you need, you know, we’ve got our big device distribution Day coming up, but our teachers need training, and they need to be able to prepare, and they need to be able to plan so we can’t really lean on them. So we were able to recently reach out to our group and say, Hey, we need a couple extra hands to help us out with some of these, you know, welcome back events. And that, you know, they’re able to reach out to their network, and then really help support that. So you know, that networking piece the scaffolding the prioritizing what it is you need to get those particular people involved, you know, and get them excited about helping out?

Kris  10:51  

Sure. You spoke about this earlier in a different contexts. But I think you’re coming back to it here to about how do you really you know, personalize these conversations and make sure that you know, you’re, you’re reaching a level of comfortability with everybody that you can allow to have some of these asks and allow them to feel comfortable enough to be able to step into those environments, and really continue to support schools in unique ways. Very, it’s a really strategic way to kind of make sure that you’re starting to build that community in a really purposeful way for your schools and for your families as well. I want to come back to a question that or an answer that you shared about how large your district is. And within that large district, I’m sure that there is, you know, different areas where there might be different socio economic statuses, or there might be different cultural barriers that are in there, can you share some practical tips or things that you have done to overcome some of those barriers that are in your way for your schools.

Megan  11:54  

And so that I think that that, that’s, that’s something that it’s going to always be a work in progress, right? Because that is definitely. Especially in our area, we’ve got such huge wide diversity between just portions of the district, and they all get to come to our school, which is great, that’s our public school, open everyone. But I think that the biggest thing when it comes to that is just ensuring equitable access, when we’re talking about, you know, there’s the normal things that district will provide our district is very, we’re very blessed to be able to offer computers to everyone access to internet, things of that nature. But I think one of the things to think about is just access to people, people resources, I think people resources are probably the biggest, most important factor. So there might be times where you’ll have some, some students that are maybe that has a social economic problem or need that they need support with. And so having the ability to go and knock on the door and offer support, or bring them in for any one on one in person opportunities. You know, that’s, that’s important. I think, meeting them where they are, is key and knowing where they are, because everyone’s gonna be in a different level and a different space. And that looks a little different. You can also I think it’s great opportunity to partner and buddy up kids, so that they have an opportunity to help and you know, learn and grow from each other. I think peer learning is probably one of the most beneficial things for students who need that extra support. But again, when it comes to our parents and our families, you know, we’ve been known to, to knock on some doors and help support and in ways that are maybe not so conventional that you would see in a traditional school.

Kris  13:35  

Absolutely, you’re, you’re embodying that persona of we’ll do anything for our kids, and we’ll make sure that we’re there and we’re supporting them, whether it means we have to physically knock on doors, or we set up different systems on the back end, that just allows them to have different peer support networks as well. So love to hear those practical steps. I have next question for you is going to be our throw you for a loop question. If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

Megan  14:07  

That is such a good question. And this one is going to Yeah, so um, I would probably eat any potato product? Any potato product? Yeah, so like french fries, baked potatoes. Does that count? It’s pretty broad. I mean, like it’s potato

Kris  14:25  

That counts, It’s a single item. So that definitely works. That’s a that’s a fantastic answer. Especially coming from someone who lives in the Midwest that potatoes are really everywhere. And they’re a great source of carbs and they’re super delicious. So I think you hit the nail on the head there. That’s yeah,

Megan  14:43  

I don’t think it’d be the best option though. I think for eating only potatoes forever. That would be okay.

Kris  14:49  

That’s okay. You’ll enjoy it while you have it. It’s all good. One final question for you as we start to close off things thinking of one last thing that the audience can leave with one more little tip or trick that we can give to everybody who’s tuning in? What advice would you give to your parents? And what advice do you have to your parents, when you start your year that can really help to provide supporting environments for their students learning and how they can be successful in school? What are some things that you start to share with your parents? Whether it’s the start of school or even maybe midway through school? How do you continue to just provide that information to them?

Megan  15:25  

Yeah, I think that one of the biggest things that parents really need to know is how to access student data, right? Because in order to really understand student achievement, and how well your child is doing, personally, is to actually see what is your child doing? Right. So one of the things that we start the year off with specifically is, you know, our school system uses Canvas. So that’s one way for that for them to look for grades for grade points and data points. But finding ways to access that as a parent observer, I think, is the biggest piece. And then that way they can follow with communications and actually speak to the data points, I see that my child has done this on their this particular standard, or this particular learning target. And so you know, what can we do to help support that, you know, as a classroom teacher, one of the things that I used to love to do was, of course, my seesaw, since we never talked about love seesaw. So, as a music teacher, I actually would have them show progress. So if we were working on a project, they would do step one here, and they would show it in their portfolio. That’s step two, step three, step four. And so when we look at data points that I can even say along the way, did you see where I was giving them feedback, whether they took it, or they did not? And that’s how it guided and shaped our final project. And so, you know, having those data points, you know, really, I think, helps our parents see, along the way, the journey along the way. So it’s not an aha, gotcha at the end, or a surprise. I mean, as a parent, I think there’s been times where I’ve gotten to the end, and I’ve gotten a final grade. And I was like, How did that even happen? How did that happen? And I feel like I know how to find the data. So I think that, you know, schools in general, really need to help parents understand where is it going for the class? How can I be it? How can I keep track of as long the way? And then that way they can have those type of conversations? For sure.

Kris  17:13  

Yeah, I love that. I think that really embodies that growth mindset that you’re really trying to instill in your parents, your families, your community, and your students, most importantly, there. So I think that’s, that’s an amazing step to take at the beginning of the year, and really any time to just inform your parents like, what does success look like in our school? And how do we measure that and just being really clear and transparent with that with your families, is a great step to take. As we close up today, I just want to say thank you, Megan, for taking some time here. Thank you for just taking your busy day and making sure that you can come here and chat with us a little bit about family engagement. We learned so much from your specific instance, and how do you really bridge those connections in virtual schools? I just want to thank you and appreciate you sharing all these wonderful insights. Thank you so much.